Florida Gators Offense Shouldn't Have to Make Up for Poor Defensive Play
The Florida Gators scored on 75% of their offensive drives against the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday.
Florida lost the game.
As seen all season long, Florida can move the ball and score at will. Particularly through the air, Heisman-campaigning quarterback Kyle Trask completed 71.9% of his passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns against the Aggies, once again proving to be efficient almost every time he catches a snap.
Trask was not pleased, however, with the offense's performance. He was asked by the media post-game about Florida's defensive struggles putting pressure on the offense, providing an honorable response but one that leaves you scratching your head.
"Our goal every time we're on the field is to score every time we have the ball," said Trask. "So, I mean, there was a couple drives that we didn't do that and it was just little things and lack of execution and if we do those, then we don't even have to worry about defense."
Trask is a redshirt senior who has been commended by coaches and teammate alike for his leadership skills since taking over as Florida's starting quarterback in week three of the 2019 season. It's no surprise to see him pivot blame away from his teammates and onto what he could control.
“I think offensively we’re doing a pretty good job throughout the game, but we’ve just got to be honed in on the details," Trask said. "Be super-sharp focused on every single play, so therefore we don’t have any missed assignments or anything like that.”
Head coach Dan Mullen gave the defense its fair share of blame on Saturday and claimed that he will re-evaluate that side of the ball. However, he also shared Trask's sentiments about the offense a week ago following Florida's 38-24 home victory over South Carolina.
The Gators' defense allowed the Gamecocks to convert on 5-of-6 fourth downs and were on the field for 83 plays, yet Mullen criticized his offense for a few mistakes that kept the game from being a total blowout.
“I thought we did some things [defensively] much better today than we did last week. Obviously making the plays to get off the field are going to be critical," Mullen began on October 3rd. "I think the offense, we had two turnovers on the plus side of the field. You can’t do that. That really puts the defense in some tough positions at times. That was really on the offense. It’s really situations that the offense not doing what they’re supposed to do."
Is Florida's offense capable of scoring on every drive? Perhaps against a team like Vanderbilt. Should the expectation be mistake-free football to make up for owning one of the worst defenses in the SEC? Absolutely not. That's unreasonable. Shootout football is fun but it isn't a sustainable way to win in the SEC.
The coach-speak about scoring on each drive isn’t a surprise, but it sets the wrong example as to what the issues truly are for Florida following the first loss of the season.
In case you haven't heard, Florida gave up 543 yards to the Aggies on Saturday, allowing A&M to convert on a miserable 12-of-15 third downs and making fourth-year starting QB Kellen Mond look like an All-SEC caliber-player for the first time in his career. Mond averaged 13 yards per completion and came out firing, which allowed the Aggies' rushing offense to seal the deal with 160 yards on the ground in the second half.
Against the Gamecocks, Florida gave up far fewer yards (329) than they did against the Aggies or Ole Miss Rebels (613!). However, South Carolina controlled the clock for the entire game, ran 83 plays compared to UF's 53, and converted on a whopping 5-of-6 fourth-downs.
Could Florida stand to improve upon putting teams away? Sure. A Malik Davis fumble at the Gators' 48-yard line at the 3:40 mark of the fourth quarter set up the Aggies' game-winning field goal when you forget why the game was tied in the first place. An early-second quarter fumble by Trask against South Carolina kept the Gators from putting their foot on the gas and extending their lead to two scores in week two. A one-handed interception, thrown when Florida was beating S.C. by 17 points in the early fourth quarter, kept the starters in through the final snap.
These issues are correctable, but again, Florida's offense is usually dominant when they have the ball. While a goal to score on every drive is admirable of Trask and Mullen, it's unrealistic and would be unnecessary if Florida's defense played at an even remotely-average level for an SEC team.
